Video: Sweet Potato Field Day Provides Research, Tips for Growers, Producers

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PONTOTOC CO. (WCBI) – Sweet potatoes have become popular throughout the nation, as Americans look for healthier options. Lots of restaurants now offer sweet potato fries on their menus , and Northeast Mississippi produces a huge part of the sweet potato crop.   This morning,  the MSU Extension Service hosted a sweet potato field day.

These producers, researchers, industry reps and crop consultants spent part of their day at the Pontotoc Ridge Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station.

“This research station here at Pontotoc is kind of the epicenter of sweet potato research for the state of Mississippi,” said Stephen Meyers, a sweet potato specialist at the Experiment Station.

This is the third year the Experiment Station has hosted the sweet potato field day.  It allowed attendees to visit test plots dedicated to weed management, crop fertility along with different varieties of the sweet potato..There were also demonstrations of wild hog traps.

In recent years, sweet potatoes have gained in popularity.  For instance,  the average American consumed 7 and a half pounds of sweet potatoes last year.

“It’s a super food, and people recognize the benefit, a medium sized sweet potato has four times your daily requirement of vitamin A, a third of your vitamin C and a lot of other beneficial aspects too, without any drawbacks,” Meyers said.

Another topic at this field day focused on the workers who actually pick the sweet potato crops.  Of course, on the presidential campaign trail, there is a lot of talk about overhauling the immigration system and sweet potato farmers often use legally documented immigrants and they say even that can be a headache.

Jamie Earp grows sweet potatoes on 250 acres at his family farm in Houlka. Although he uses mostly local labor, he knows some farmers who dread having to go through the guest worker program.

“It’s so expensive, one thing, you have to pay them a certain, a lot more than minimum wage, a lot more than 10 dollars an hour ,  have to house them, furnish their way back and forth work and the paperwork is just cumbersome,” Earp said.

Still, in spite of a wet spring , which delayed planting , Earp and other sweet potato farmers are looking for a good crop this year.  After all, the Mississippi product is healthier than the spuds from Idaho.

“We like to say they’re both great for you, but in Mississippi we prefer you eat a sweet potato, certainly,” Meyers said.

Last year, 23,000 acres of sweet potatoes were planted and more than 11,00people employed full time work because of the sweet potato crop.